“Salicylic Acid” is the organic acid extracted from willow black leaves and winter green plants. It is mainly used as antiseptic, pain reliever and food preservative among other applications. Salicylic acid is used as raw material in the production of aspirin.

Salicylic acid has wide number of advantages in curing diseases such as blemishes, acne and psoriasis among others. This advantageous factor of salicylic acid has found vast application scope in pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, salicylic acid is used in personal care & cosmetics industry owing to its oxidation property. It is also used in functional foods as a preservative agent.

Increasing demand from pharmaceuticals has been the key factor driving salicylic acid market over the recent past and the trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. Aspirin has widespread application base in pharmaceutical industry. Salicylic acid is an important raw material used in the production of aspirin. Increasing demand for aspirin from pharmaceutical industry is the key factor expected to drive salicylic acid market over the next five years.

Growing application scope of salicylic acid in personal care and cosmetic products such as hair care and skin care products is expected to augment the market growth over the forecast period. Increasing awareness and health concerns towards healthy skin and healthy hair is expected to drive the demand for cosmetics & personal care products, which in turn likely to fuel the salicylic acid market growth over the foreseeable period. Moreover, increasing application scope of salicylic acid in foods & preservatives industry is expected to complement the market growth over the forecasted period.

However, side effects caused by over usage of salicylic acid is expected to hamper the market growth in personal care & cosmetics industry in near future. Permissible level of salicylic acid in cosmetics such as shower gels, creams, conditioners and shampoos is 0.5% to 2%. Salicylic acid has many advantages, when used under the permissible limits. However, increasing demand from other end-use industries including pharmaceuticals and foods & preservatives is expected to drive the market considerably over the foreseeable period.

Pharmaceutical was the largest application segment for salicylic acid in 2013 and is expected to remain the dominating market over the next five years. Aspirin is one of the most selling drugs across the globe. Aspirin has been gaining wide acceptance over the recent past owing to increasing application scope of aspirin in major drugs. This trend is expected to drive salicylic acid market at a good pace over the forecast period. Foods & preservatives is the second major market for salicylic acid followed by personal care & cosmetics industry. Personal care & cosmetics industry is anticipated to witness significant growth over the next five years on account of increasing demand for hair care and skin care products across the globe. Rising environmental effects on human body over the last few years led to increase in demand for moisturizers, body lotions and other skin care products, which is expected to be the key driving factor for the market growth.

Europe witnessed to be the largest market for salicylic acid in 2013 and is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Owing to increasing demand for skin care and hair care products, salicylic acid demand has been increasing in this region. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market over the last five years on account of increasing demand from pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry in this region.

Competitive Insights

Salicylic acid market is highly dominated with less number of market participants operating globally. However, there are many SMSEs in China producing industrial grade salicylic acid at relatively low cost. Some key players in this market include J.M. Loveridge Ltd., Novacap Group, Alfa Aesar and SIMCO Chemicals Inc.

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